Avoid At All Costs

Today is Abi's B-day (not birthday, but "B" day at school, they have A days and B days), and on her B-days she only has one class, seminary, and it's second period, so she doesn't need to leave until 8:30. She wakes up at 8. Perfect, that's the same time at I need to wake up Owen Daniel and Peter. But, since she's at home, I can take some extra time exercising, perhaps? Yes. So last night I asked her if she could get the kids up and out, she said yes, so that meant I had until 8am to myself. I usually go to the temple at 5, then bouldering at 6, and then with the extra time I could sit in the sauna too. That was my plan, but then I slept in. I woke up at 5:45, thus needed to make adjustments. I went to the temple, gave the kids a few wake up calls from the temple locker room after I was done, and then I powered off my phone again and went up to the celestial room for some extended quiet time to ponder. I was thinking about another part of the podcast Corey and I listened to yesterday evening - about priorities and making sure the "good" things you want don't get in the way of your top priorities. Follow Him with John Hilton III – Part 1, minute 22

"Genesis chapter one, verse four, we read God separated light from the darkness. You can look at the story of the creation in the Bible and think about how does this relate to my life and the things that I’m trying to create, maybe create a strong family, or maybe I’m trying to write a book or create something in my job. And the way that I apply this verse into my life is just to think about how do I separate out the light from the darkness? What’s light is essential and all the stuff that’s not essential, there’s a thousand distractions and separating those out can be really challenging. There’s an apocryphal story, it’s probably not true, but it’s about Warren Buffett who’s talking to his pilot Mike Flint. Warren Buffett told Mike Flint to make a list of his 25 most important goals and then to circle the top five. Now Flint had two lists, the top five and then the other 20. And he thought that Warren Buffett was gonna tell him, okay, focus on the top five and then do the other 20 as your schedule permits. But Buffett said, no, no, no. Those other 20, those are your avoid at all costs. Because if you think about it, what’s gonna most tempt you away from your top goals are other goals that you’re interested in that are good, but they’re just not at the top.

I thought that was incredible advice! And I was pondering over my life and how I'm spending my time day to day - what things get my attention day by day? Are they the most important things to me? Or just "good" things that are keeping me from my most important goals? I haven't done it yet, but I want to make my list of the 25 things important to me. So I was thinking of this as I looked around the celestial room. Here's a photo of the Jordan River Celestial Room - 

I love how the celestial room is so simple. What are the 25 things in the celestial room? hmmm. We see: 

1. chandelier
2. mirrors
3. couches
4. chairs
5. tables
6. flowers in a
7. vase
8. mirrors
9. fake green plants
10. several sets of scriptures
11. two glass bowls
12. lamps
13. tissues in dispenser
14. pump of hand sanitizer
15. carpet
16. walls
17. door handles

I'm really stretching with the list, but I think that's it. Interesting, I couldn't even make it to 25. I want my bedroom to be more simple like that - a place to sit, ponder, and maybe it would be good to just keep scriptures there so I can be focused and then make a separate place for the household stuff? What are the most important things for us to do in the temple? Pray, Listen, Read God's Word, Ponder, whisper/communicate (when I'm there with Corey or family). 

Anyway, those were some of the things I was mulling over this morning in the temple. I want to figure out my priorities and avoid distractions at all costs!

Today I did finished up July 2025, yay... I cleaned in basement, found ski goggles, Abi took two filing cabinets to DI and dropped off a package to mail to Eliza, woot. My little sister Patrice's bday is today. She and JT are in Costa Rica for a trip, and when I texted her she's was at Playa Conchal! Jealous. Natalie and I went to Dicks and she got some shoes that she wanted as a late Christmas gift. I've been wanting a new pair too. I liked these but they were the last pair and unfortunately they were a size too big for me. 

I took that pic so I can be a lame old person and show these to my grandchildren. Haha, Lachlan Patterson, I've only seen that little clip but it was funny. 

Ok, I guess I should probably think about if watching YouTube is important to me. I will put this from google of the The Story of the 25/5 Rule explained by James Clear:

List 25 Goals: Buffett asked Flint to write down his top 25 career goals.

Circle the Top 5: Flint reviewed the list and circled the five he wanted most.

Avoid the Rest: When Flint said he'd work on the other 20 goals in his spare time, Buffett corrected him, explaining that the uncircled 20 become a list to avoid entirely, preventing distractions from the top priorities. 

Why It Matters

Focus: It highlights that good goals can be distractions from great ones.

Discipline: It emphasizes saying "no" to non-essential tasks to create space for the most important ones.

Action: The goal is to dedicate full attention to the top priorities before even considering others.